One year in, the Recovery Act is at work across the country creating jobs and driving economic growth. From major highway projects to green retrofits of military facilities and manufacturing of advanced batteries, more than 55,000 projects across the country have now been funded through the Recovery Act. This is in addition to the nearly $120 billion in tax relief already provided to American families and businesses – with more to come this year - and the billions of dollars in relief provided to shore up state and local government programs like Medicaid and education facing severe budget shortfalls.



This is what it looks like, by the numbers:



Jobs



• CBO: According to the nonpartisan CBO, the Recovery Act is already responsible for as many as 2.4 million jobs through the end of 2009.



• CEA, Other Private Forecasters: Analysis by the Council of Economic Advisers also found that the Recovery Act is responsible for about 2 million jobs – a figure in line with estimates from private forecasters like IHS Global, Moody’s Economy and even the conservative American Enterprise Institute.



The Economy



• GDP/Economic Growth: In the fourth quarter of 2009, the economy grew 5.7 percent – – the largest gain in six years and something many economists say is largely due to the Recovery Act. Before the Recovery Act, the economy was shrinking by about 6 percent.



• Job Losses: Job losses for the fourth quarter of 2009 were one-seventh what they were in the first quarter of 2009 when the Recovery Act was passed.



Recovery Dollars



• Spending: Nearly 70 percent of the $499 billion in Recovery Act spending has been obligated to specific programs and projects so far, putting those dollars to work in communities across the country.



• Tax Relief: Nearly $120 billion in tax relief has been provided for working families and businesses through the Recovery Act this year.



Infrastructure



• Transportation Construction: Over 12,500 transportation construction projects – ranging from highway construction to airport improvement projects - have been funded so far. Of those, more than 8,500 are already underway across the country – with even more breaking ground as the weather warms up.



• Defense Construction: ...